1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure pertains to the use of bacteria in bioremediation of contaminated materials. More particularly, the disclosure relates to the use of certain bioremediation enhancing agents that facilitate degradation of certain chemicals by bacteria.
2. Description of Related Art
The use of carbon substrates as electron donors to enhance reductive dechlorination and the use of oxygen and other oxygen releasing compounds as electron acceptors to enhance the degradation of hydrocarbons have been commercially used to remediate chemical contaminants since at least the early 1990's. A general problem for anaerobic bioremediation of contaminants has been the poor utilization of electron donors. More recently, in order to reduce costs, the industry has moved toward cheaper, less refined substrates with little regard toward substrate efficiency. Some of these lower cost electron donors show poor kinetics and low efficiency. There is therefore a need for improved efficiency of electron donor utilization and enhanced bioremediation kinetics.
Some contaminated sites or contaminated materials contain indigenous microbial communities that are sufficient for complete bioremediation of contaminants. For those sites that are microbiologically limited, addition of nutrients may facilitate the remediation process. Addition of nutrients, such as yeast extract, has been shown to promote the activities of contaminant degrading bacteria in bioremediation of halogenated hydrocarbon contaminated soils. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,766,929. However, no evidence has been reported that such nutrients enhance the efficiency of electron donor utilization in bioremediation. There remains a need for more cost effective nutrients that can enhance the kinetics and/or the efficiency of electron donor utilization in bioremediation.